Featured Research

from universities, journals, and other organizations

The great industrial bake-off

Date:

May 10, 2013

Source:

Inderscience

Summary:

Not everyone can rustle up a Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle cake or a jam roly-poly, so shop-bought cakes remain a mainstay of high tea for many a household. Thankfully, quality control on food production lines continues to improve. Now, a research article shows how a simple set of rules can spot critical points in the cake-making process and through careful design improve even exceedingly good cakes.

Share This

Not everyone can rustle up a Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle cake or a jam roly-poly, so shop-bought cakes remain a mainstay of high tea for many a household. Thankfully, quality control on food production lines continues to improve. Now, a research paper to be published in the International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering shows how a simple set of rules can spot critical points in the cake-making process and through careful design improve even exceedingly good cakes.

Related Articles

Marina Pouliou of TEI Piraeus, in Athens, Greece, working with George Besseris of the University of the West of Scotland, in Paisley, UK, have turned to the "Taguchi methods" -- suite of statistical tools developed by Japanese engineer Genichi Taguchi that focus on variation and deviations from the norm. The team explains that by using proven quality methods, such as design of experiments, finding the most significant factors that affect the baking process of a cake product and carrying out trials offline it should be possible to make a higher quality product more consistently and reduce the percentage of "defective" cakes coming off the production line.

The team has applied a three-tier approach to the statistical analysis using Taguchi methods and focused on two particularly important factors when it comes to any bake-off: cake weight and surface peak. The team took into account the different variables that arise in production of a loaf cake: the rates of mixing and blending of ingredients, baking duration, temperature. The analysis using a variation on Taguchi methods allowed the team to glean an optimal set of baking conditions for a standard large-scale cake product.

Mixing time and baking duration were the two most important factors affecting cake weight, the team reports. Tweaking the baking duration allowed them to get close to the perfect sponge weight. "It is important that the weight be around what we call a specification value such that there is not much fluctuation from batch-to-batch after production," Besseris says. "In other words, this is to give the consumer a standardized amount of the food item."

The Taguchi analysis fell short, however, when testing baking conditions for the optimal peak surface. This factor seeming not to be affected by mixing times, baking temperature or duration. The team will investigate other variables to find the optimal conditions for peak in future research, perhaps tweaking ingredient proportions. They also intend to use the same approach to optimise taste and smell, texture and overall cake structure, and colour of the final product. Proof of the pudding, of course, is in the eating.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Inderscience. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Mar. 31, 2015 — Landfills can make a profit from all their rotting waste and a new patent explains exactly how to make the most out of the stinky garbage sites. Decomposing trash produces methane, a landfill gas ... full story

Mar. 31, 2015 — Scientists have achieved an unprecedented level of control over defects in liquid crystals that can be engineered for applications in liquid matter photonics. Sitting with a joystick in the comfort ... full story

Mar. 30, 2015 — Neuroscientists are taking inspiration from natural motor control to design new prosthetic devices that can better replace limb function. Researchers have tested a range of brain-controlled devices ... full story

Mar. 30, 2015 — Speaking in public is the top fear for many people. Now, researchers have developed an intelligent user interface for 'smart glasses' that gives real-time feedback to the speaker on volume modulation ... full story

Mar. 30, 2015 — By studying the morphology and physiology of plants with tiny conical "hairs" or microfibers on the surface of their leaves, such as tomatoes, balsam pears and the flowers Berkheya purpea and Lychnis ... full story

Mar. 30, 2015 — In the first study of its kind, scientists quantitatively show that electric vehicles will meet the daily travel needs of drivers longer than commonly assumed. They found that batteries that have ... full story

Mar. 30, 2015 — As the demand for instant, constant communication grows, so too does the urgency for more convenient portable devices -- especially computer displays that can be easily rolled up and stored or ... full story

Mar. 30, 2015 — There are electrical signals in the nervous system, the brain and throughout the human body and there are tiny magnetic fields associated with these signals that could be important for medical ... full story

Bionic Ants Could Be Tomorrow's Factory Workers

Reuters - Innovations Video Online (Mar. 30, 2015) — Industrious 3D printed bionic ants working together could toil in the factories of the future, says German technology company Festo. The robotic insects cooperate and coordinate their actions and movements to achieve a common aim. Amy Pollock reports.
Video provided by Reuters

Related Stories

Mar. 9, 2015 — Through a surprise research discovery, a chemical engineer has developed a building better technique for semiconductors. The research may help improve electronic devices and could benefit the power ... full story

Aug. 14, 2014 — The properties of lemongrass fibers are being studied as a potential help in preventing fluid circulation problems while drilling for oil and gas. In the oil and gas industry, drilling mud is used to ... full story

Nov. 28, 2012 — The latest effort to decipher the unique aroma signature of the durian -- revered as the "king of fruits" in southeast Asia but reviled elsewhere as the world's foulest smelling food ... full story

Nov. 13, 2012 — Up to now, releasing components from molds has called for release agents. The problem is that the residues of these agents left behind must then be costly removed. Now, there is an alternative: a ... full story

July 23, 2010 — The oil extracted from oleaginous plants can be used as a fuel for agricultural vehicles without any reduction in their performance -- thus enabling farmers to have greater energy self-sufficiency. ... full story

ScienceDaily features breaking news and videos about the latest discoveries in health, technology, the environment, and more -- from major news services and leading universities, scientific journals, and research organizations.